Guardian of Twilight
by ArenLuxon
Summary: Serana teams up with a strange mage trying to overthrow the Dawnguard in a world where vampires are nearly exterminated. (abandoned fic)
1. Chapter 1

"Outside, the sky is clear blue," mom always says. Although she fails to explain what 'blue' looks like.

According to dad, blue is a color between purple and white.

I know purple. The sky is purple/black in here. White is the color of the mist that always hangs around. But I don't see any other color in between.

I wonder how she knows blue isn't simply a shade of purple. The lower sky is purple, while the upper one is black, but mom never named the infinite colors in between making the transition smoothly. There is no transition for the sky and the mist hanging on the ground, but if there was, wouldn't her so called 'blue' simply be a part of that transition?

Every once in a while, she asks dad to use transmutation to create something blue, but he never does, saying this is a bad place for experiments and he never did anything like that before.

Bored, I go back to counting them.

152 Bonemen archers, 169 Bonemen warriors and 56 Wrathmen. Their numbers slowly increased over the years. It's the only thing that ever changes in here.

According to the books of Valerica, a dragon used to roam this place. His name was Durnehviir, but I've never seen him. He was bound to serve the Ideal Masters until Valerica's dead. But since she was a vampire, he was trapped for quite some time. I guess Valerica is dead now, slain by the Dawnguard.

I like vampires. Their eyes glow orange and they are masters in sneaking and magic. According to dad, my skills in magic already exceed any human he ever saw, but I wonder where he ever saw another human. This 'outside world' they are always talking about. Just where is it?

Is it beyond all those monsters? And if so, what are we doing here? The longer we wait behind this barrier, the more they start gathering. If we wanted to stand a chance, we should have attacked way earlier.

"I'm hungry," mom announces, breaking the long silence.

"I'll make some food," dad says.

The three of us gather around the low stone table.

Dad grabs some dust from the ground and closes his eyes. A purple glow appears in his hand, and the dust changes into one of the ten types of food dad can make. He never says which ones he'll make, trying to surprise us.

The dust changes color to a dirty white.

Oatmeal.

Well, it could have been worse.

Mom deftly puts a bowl carved out of stone beneath his hand and catches the dust. He continues filling the bowl while I grab the waterskin.

We add water and heat up the bowl, stirring it with a stone thing which mom calls a 'spoon'.

The magic he uses for heating it is Destruction-magic, but I've never actually seen him destroy anything with it. It would be cool if he could use that fire on one of the Bonemen outside, but I guess he would be hit by 152 arrows before he could do anything.

When he's done, he places the bowl in the middle of the table and the three of us empty it using spoons.

Apparently, in the 'real world' people differentiate between meals based upon 'time', which is measured by a floating ball of light in the sky. I know, I know, sounds really crazy. Light only comes from the ground in a glow, but mom tells crazier stories than that, believe me.

Whatever the case, when the orb is low, they call it 'breakfast', when it's in the middle they say 'lunch' and the last meal is called 'dinner' or 'supper'.

After that it gets 'dark'. I know what light is, and I can cast a magic light so I know what 'more light' is, but apparently dark is 'less light'. I have no clue what that's supposed to mean, but dad says it's similar to the upper sky, except everywhere. So everything is black, as if your eyes are closed.

When we're done, dad walks to the wall and uses magic to put another marking.

By putting markings whenever we've eaten or slept, they try to measure how much time has passed since we've been here. Whenever they reached their 365th sleeping mark, it's my 'birthday' which is a big deal for some reason. 365 seems like a random number to me, but it seems to carry some significance for them.

According to the marks, when I wake up another time, it will be my nineteenth birthday.

Dad told me kids get presents on their birthday, but they don't have much to give me, obviously. And there is only one present I want anyway.

I look back at the Bonemen. If only someone would give me a sword like that for my birthday. Then I could kill them all and finally leave this building. But I never got any presents for my so called 'birthdays', why would this one be any different?

/

/

I open my eyes. Something is different. I can tell I have only slept for a couple of hours. In a manner of speaking, it would be 'night' right now.

The Bonemen never rest. They keep standing there, preventing us from leaving.

…

Holy crap.

This time, someone else is present. A human. No wait, a vampire.

She's crouching down behind one of the pillars so the Bonemen can't see her, just outside of the barrier.

She beckons me closer.

I throw a glance at the Bonemen. They don't seem to be paying me any special attention.

As silently as possible, I sneak closer to the girl.

By now, any doubt about her vampire nature is cleared up. Her eyes are fierce orange and she's clad in what I recognize as vampire armor. It's black/red and leaves a part between her neck and chest bare. Her cloak is fastened with a silver pin. On her hip is an elven dagger. She raised the hood of her cloak, but her eyes glow fiercely beneath it.

"I need your help," she whispers.

"My help?" What on earth is going on here?

"The Dawnguard took the castle. I had to flee somewhere."

"Calm down. You need blood first."

I take a deep breath and crawl through the barrier. Why am I even doing this?

"Can I borrow your dagger?" I ask.

Stunned, she hands me the elven dagger.

I bite my lip and make a small cut in the palm of my left hand. Blood wells up.

Softly, she takes my hand and drinks my blood.

Look at that, I'm holding hands with a girl.

The fierceness in her eyes subsides and makes way for a soft glow.

When she's done, she lowers her hood revealing a smooth face and black, partly-braided hair.

"Thank you, I wasn't able to feed for days. My name is Serana."

"I'm Dawn."

"Would you mind telling me what three humans are doing in my mom's laboratory? How are you even alive in here?"

"Modified soul trap. My parents study soul gems, but the Ideal Masters tried to kill us when I was born, so they raised this barrier."

"When you were _born_? How long have you guys been here?"

"About nineteen 'years', I guess."

"Why didn't you conjure up something to distract this army? Surely a Dremora Lord could-"

"Yeah, funny story. Actually, they both suck at Conjuration."

She raises her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Pathetic, I know."

"I was planning to hide in my mother's hideout, but it seems I can't cross this barrier. This feels very nostalgic."

"It's designed to repel the undead, obviously."

"I can't stay out here. It's only a matter of time before those Bonemen find me."

"You should retreat to the portal. The Soul Cairn isn't safe."

"The portal isn't safe either, I already told you. The Dawnguard have captured the castle. They'll be waiting at the portal."

"Seems like you're in the same situation as us then. Well, reversed...wait a minute. Can you distract these Bonemen?"

"Of course I can, undead are stupid. Just conjure up some atronachs and they'll be distracted for a couple minutes."

"These Dawnguard have weapons designed against vampires, right?"

"Obviously."

"Seems like we can help each other out then. You distract these Bonemen, and I'll take out the Dawnguard. Do we have a deal?" I extend my hand.

"Deal," she says, shaking my hands.

Holding hands with a girl again. I'm on a roll today.


	2. Chapter 2

"Once she's done run straight for the portal; We only have one chance," I say.

"I know," dad replies. A light I've never seen before shines in his eyes.

Time creeps on slowly, until…

The distant sound of an explosion reaches us. Two Frost Atronachs appear from the mist and start attacking Bonemen. They start fighting back.

Just like Serana predicted, they lost all attention for us.

Without wasting time, we run along the pillars.

An arrow whizzes past my head. Not all of them seem to fall for our distraction.

A Boneman blocks our way. Without slowing down, I twist my body and drive my shoulder into his sternum.

I feel a sharp pain, but I can also feel his chest give way.

I pause momentarily to pick up the sword he dropped, and then I continue running.

The portal is now within sight.

Two taller Wrathmen stand in front of it.

Before we reach them, two ice spikes take them out.

"Let's go," Serana says, dashing to the gate.

Over a hundred enemies are following her.

We quickly follow her.

It feels good to run after being trapped for so long within those walls.

When I reach the steps, I'm forced to slow down from my breakneck speed.

After about fifteen stairs, I realize it.

They aren't following us.

They can't follow us to be precise.

A dozen Bonemen are pushing at the first stair, but they can't push past the invisible barrier. Their arrows vanish when they try to shoot past it.

We're safe.

Serana has stopped halfway the staircase.

"One of you should go first. They'll use light magic and crossbow bolts. Block their first attack with a ward. Crossbows are slow to reload. Most likely, they carry a dagger, but they are slow to switch. The Dawnguard always count on their crossbows, they'll never drop them and only swing them over their backs when it's already too late. I'll go second. The rest should follow quickly."

She seems used to giving orders. Which is rather strange.

Wait a minute, where the hell is...

"I'll go first," dad says. He's the best at Restoration magic.

"Vampires can't cast wards, that's Restoration magic. Undead is their polar opposite," she warns him. "Their bolts are most likely imbued with light magic. One hit and I may end up dead."

"I understand," dad says. "I'll protect you."

She nods. "Let's go then."

Dad takes a deep breath and crosses the barrier.

Serana follows him.

I look at mom. She nods and takes my hand.

Together, we take the last steps and jump through the portal.

We arrive in a big room.

It looks like the alchemy lab Valerica has at the Soul Cairn, except, much bigger.

Tall shelves line the walls filled with ingredients or books. I also glimpse a few alchemy labs.

But there is no time for that now.

Several bodies lie bleeding on the ground, all of them dressed in full armor.

A crossbow bolt races for us, but mom casts a ward before it reaches us.

The one who fired it curses and quickly tries to reload, but before he can do this, a shadow appears behind him. A shadow with orange eyes.

The elven dagger slits his throat. His body falls down, joining the others.

Another one aims for us, but a fireball hits him in the head. His helmet shifts, blocking his view.

Before he can resolve this, an ice spike goes through his shoulder. He drops his crossbow.

The weapon falls down and hits the ground two steps from me.

The Dawnguard-warrior screams and raises his hand.

A blinding light appears.

I need to do something.

I dropped my sword when the light blinded me.

I take two steps in what I hope is the right direction. Then I start searching with my hands.

Where is that thing?

My hands close around something. Something heavy, made out of metal and wood.

The light subsides and I can see the warrior. He now carries a dagger with blood on it.

I quickly take aim and fire.

The bolt makes a soft *thump* when it hits him in his chest. He falls to his knees. Dad appears and kicks the dagger out of his hand.

Serana joins us, sporting a minor injury on her left arm.

"That went quite well," she said, although I notice her face is paler than normal, if such a thing is possible for a vampire.

"There might be others stationed here," dad says.

Serana shakes her head. "I don't think so, not much at least. This castle is useless to them. We're to far north, away from anything. Most likely, they only stationed some men here in case I returned from the Soul Cairn. A few here, and some others to relieve them. But there might be a garrison in Solitude."

"He should know," I say, pointing to the remaining warrior.

Dad checks on him. "No, he lost to much blood. He won't regain consciousness."

"Whatever the case," Serana says. "If there's a garrison at Solitude, they may come check on them."

"So what do we do?" I ask.

"We should put on their uniforms and rest a bit. Then we'll search the rest of the castle and come up with a plan."

A plan to do what?

We agreed to help her take back the castle, but then what? I don't really favor either side. The Dawnguard plans to exterminate vampires, but from Valerica's journals, I can tell that's a quite short sighted view. Not all vampires are 'evil'. Most of them didn't choose to be vampires in the first place. Of course, some abuse their powers and spill more blood than is strictly required, but this problem isn't restricted to vampires.

I can't tell what Serana is planning.

It's clear she wants to take back her home, but if the castle was taken, the entire court should be dead by now. There's no way she can defend this castle on her own, unless the Dawnguard is destroyed.

But I won't be part of that. Without the Dawnguard, the balance of this world will be destroyed. There would be nothing to stop berserk vampires.

So...what now?

I feel like we're being dragged into a war. A war she has no hope of winning.

But there is not much time to think. Serana is already stripping the slain of their uniforms and weapons.

Damnit. I don't like this. I don't like this at all.

But they didn't hesitate to fire a crossbow bolt at me, an innocent human. I did come straight out of the Soul Cairn, but still.

Let's just go along with her.

For now.


	3. Chapter 3

"Seems like they left most of it intact," Serana says, studying the shelves.

"Is that strange?"

"The Dawnguard has access to many farming grounds. Most of these ingredients are worthless to them, so they only took the rare ones." She points to several gaps in the shelves' contents.

In the bookcases, the same pattern appears. They simply took the valuable books and left the rest here.

I also notice several troll skulls and regular ones, which were also left behind.

"They did take all the soul gems though," Serana comments. "Not surprising."

"Where is the enchanter?" I ask.

"Huh?"

"The arcane enchanter. She did have one here, didn't she?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, it's right...that's strange."

The gap she's looking at is obvious. Something large is missing.

"They took an entire enchanting table? Why would they bother doing that?"

"I don't know." Serana looks really confused. "Getting here is really hard. You have to sail through some of the most dangerous waters in Skyrim. They followed me here and when I went through the portal, they left some men behind to make sure I didn't return. The others most likely left and took everything of value with them. But why would they take an entire arcane enchanter?"

"I don't like this."

"Me neither."

"Guys." Dad's voice reaches us.

He joins us and puts a knapsack down.

"Look," he says, opening it.

He takes out something. It's red and spherical.

"What's that?" I ask.

"It's an apple," Dad says. "A type of food. Here."

He hands me the object.

Hesitantly, I take a bite.

…

Oh.

My.

God.

I take another bite.

"This is good. Really good."

I'm smiling like an idiot.

Dad wears a similar expression as he takes out another apple and bites it.

In the next half hour, we continue to eat delicious food (Serana walks around and studies the shelves, throwing us weird glances every once in a while), until I experience a new feeling.

"I'm full. This feels really weird."

I feel slow and full and hot.

I throw a glance at the Soul Cairn portal and nod.

That's why they wanted to leave. I understand now.

"We should go now," Serana says. "Search the rest of the castle."

"I say we split up," dad says. "Just in case."

"I'll go with Serana then," I say.

Mom and dad look at each other.

"Fine," dad says.

"The two of you go to the hall using the balcony," Serana says. "We will take the secret passage to the courtyard. From there, we'll go outside and circle around to the gates. We'll meet you at the hall."

Dad nods. "Let's go then."

I pick up the crossbow and sling it over my back. Then, I put on the helmet.

Serana guides me to a door and then down a flight of stairs.

"What is all this?"

"This part was deserted a long time ago after the tower partly collapsed."

That much is obvious. There is rubble everywhere.

"So your mom made her lab here and used a secret passage?"

"Indeed. This passage leads to the courtyard."

Serana pauses at something.

At first, I thought it was simply rubble from the ceiling, but it's something else. It looks more like chippings, as if something scattered. The stone is also too dark to be from the ceiling or walls.

"Gargoyles," Serana says. "They were supposed to protect her lab."

"Did the Dawnguard kill them?"

"No, these were made by my mother, designed to attack anyone. I destroyed them when I went to the Soul Cairn the first time."

"I read about that in Valerica's journal. The prophecy."

"Yes."

Seems like she doesn't want to talk about that right now.

"Let's continue," she says.

We walk through a secret passage hidden behind a fireplace. Then through a maze of corridors.

Serana stops again at a statue.

"Mara, goddess of love," she says. "I wonder how it got here."

"They must have looted it from somewhere."

"Probably. Maybe father wanted to destroy it and mom hid it here." She shrugs and continues her walk.

Eventually, we take a winding staircase up and arrive at the courtyard.

"Is that a sundial?" I ask, looking at the massive structure in the middle.

"A moondial to be precise. It hides the staircase. All you have to do is remove some of the crests to close it back up."

"You want to close it? We should make sure no one can reach the lab."

"It doesn't matter. The Dawnguard knows how to reach it. And they restored the passage to the lab through the balcony."

"Why would they do that?"

"After they killed Harkon and his court, the Dawnguard took the castle. Since they could do nothing with it, they allowed vampires who wanted to live in peace to stay here."

"But they didn't honor that agreement, did they?"

"No. Eventually, they stormed the castle and killed everyone. I wasn't here at the time."

Obviously, Serana is biased, but from what I hear, the Dawnguard can't be trusted.

We leave the desolated courtyard and go down.

Eventually, we arrive outside.

"So this is what fresh air feels like."

I take of the helmet and look around.

There is mist here as well, but I can see much more. Jagged rock formations jut out from the edges of the massive castle.

Something is wrong with the sky. Is this what they call blue?

Now that I look around, there are way more colors than I would have deemed possible. It's like I missed half of the world inside the Soul Cairn.

"It must be quite an experience, after being stuck for so long," Serana says.

"The Soul Cairn was quite…"

"Lonely."

So this is what they call eye _contact_.

"Come on," she says, smiling. "We should continue."

Together, we circle around the castle until we reach a massive bridge.

About halfway through, we find a body.

It's a male nord, with a brown beard and shaggy hair. His eyes are orange, but they don't glow.

Three separate crossbow bolts jut out from his chest. From the blood, it looks like he's only been dead for a couple days.

"Was he part of the court?" I ask.

"No. That's Stanley. He never bit anyone. He tapped of blood from the deceased and stored it in large jars. The Dawnguard allowed him to live here, before their betrayal."

"We should bury him."

"There's no time for that now. But thanks for your concern. It's strange to see a mortal respect vampires like that."

I shrug. "I'm sure you did not choose this life. Besides, immortality seems pretty interesting to me."

We continue walking.

Soon, we reach the gate. The double wooden doors are closed, but the iron gate in front of them is raised.

Serana pushes open the doors and enters.

We arrive in a short corridor. The remains of two gargoyles lay shattered on the floor.

Serana walks to a balcony with stairs on either side leading down.

We're overlooking a hall now. Two large tables stand on either side with a smaller table perpendicular to it. In the middle of that large table is a tall chair that's obviously reserved for the lord of the court. This chair is tipped over, but it's still whole.

About half of the regular chairs are broken or burned and one of the tables is chopped in half. The other one shows burn marks and a massive gap in the middle.

Goblets and plates fell down spilling wine on the floor. This wine mixed with blood from several bodies.

Two of these bodies belong to the Dawnguard. These are the only two still leaking blood.

On one of the remaining chairs, a man is bound with chains.

He wears the Dawnguard uniform, but his helmet is off revealing a harsh northern face with red hair and a short trimmed beard. A scar runs across his left cheek and almost reaches his eye.

Dad stand next to him. "We caught one alive."

"Perfect," Serana says.

"He doesn't say anything though," dad continues. "Stubborn old fool."

"I can resolve that."

Serana grabs his hair and forces his head to the right. Then, she sinks her teeth in his neck. A green aura shines for a moment, and then his eyes go blank.

"How may I serve you, mistress?" the man asks, his tone blank as well.

So that's the power of a vampire?

"Is there a garrison at Solitude?"

"Yes. They will come to relieve us next week."

Serana nods. That was to be expected. "What's your mission?"

"To kill the last vampire, Serana."

"Last?"

"Yes." He looks slightly confused. "With the death of Sybille Stentor, all vampires have died according to the last reports."

"And what about Valerica?"

"Died during the second attack on this castle. I was there."

She's biting her lip. "I should have known. Who ordered the attack?"

"Arthur."

"I know Isran died over ten years ago, but I can't believe the Last Dragonborn allowed this."

"My apologies, mistress, I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"The Last Dragonborn is dead. Died over a week ago."

"..." Serana's eyes go wide.

"Serana?"

What is wrong with her?

She goes to the stairs, half running/half walking.

I go after her, leaving mom and dad with the captured Dawnguard.

She goes up the stairs and then left. Then, she goes in a room and leaves the door ajar.

Hesitantly, I open it.

She's sitting on the bed.

"Can I enter?"

Serana shrugs.

I enter the room and sit next to her, keeping a safe distance.

I wonder why vampires would need beds.

When I look around I see a coffin as well. She probably uses that one to sleep in.

"Have you ever heard of the Tyranny of the Sun?" she asks.

"The prophecy?"

"Yes. My father was obsessed with it. My mother as well, but in a different way."

I already know about this, but I let her tell the story anyway.

"The Tyranny of the Sun spoke of Auriel's Bow. A divine weapon from the god Auri-El, who's called Akatosh by the elves now. The bow's power is linked directly to the sun, a deadly weapon against vampires. But by using the blood of a pure female vampire, you can corrupt its purpose. Firing into the sun creates an eclipse which is known as Eternal Night. Harkon was obsessed with this. Without the sun, vampires would never weaken, they could emerge from the shadows and dominate the world. At least, that was his plan."

"But your mom disagreed."

"Indeed. She was certain mortals would not stand for it. The Dawnguard would gain more and more members and eventually, armies would be raised leading to an all-out war. A war she was certain we would lose. To stop him, she buried me with an Elder Scroll and fled with the other to the Soul Cairn."

"And then the Last Dragonborn found you?"

"Indeed. He was...kind to me. Although he had a clear hatred for vampires, he didn't hate me just because I was a vampire. When he brought me here, my father offered to transform him into a vampire lord as a 'reward'."

"I can image how he took that."

"He kindly refused the offer. Harkon banished him and he returned to Fort Dawnguard. I knew I needed help stopping my father, so I went to him. Together, we found Auriel's Bow and defeated my father."

"Was killing the court part of the plan?"

She looks away. "That wasn't his fault. We were planning to sneak in and kill Harkon, but the Dawnguard mounted a full attack and killed all of them."

"I see. And I assume the Last Dragonb-"

"Stop it. Please."

Are those, tears?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay." She stands up and walks to a heartfire. "I'm not sure how much he was involved," she says, looking in the empty fireplace. "On Harkon's death, Valerica would become the Lady of the castle, or maybe I would claim the title. Whatever the case, peaceful coexistence was a valid possibility. The Dawnguard were welcome to keep the Elder Scrolls and the bow."

"They clearly preferred killing everyone."

"Yes. I'm not sure whether the Last Dragonborn shared this view. He had a strong sense of justice and wouldn't spill blood unless it was required. After the attack we started growing apart."

"That must have been lonely."

"It was." She sighs and then quickly changes the subject. "When Harkon was defeated, people began saying the Dawnguard was no longer necessary, but the Last Dragonborn kept them alive. There were still vampires lurking around, along with hagravens, dragons and all kinds of other creatures. He realized he could never wipe them out alone so he used the Dawnguard. They teamed up with the College of Winterhold, the Companions and even the Vigilants of Stendarr at one point."

"And now that he's dead..."

"The Dawnguard will be disbanded. The Last Dragonborn helped High Queen Elisif win the war, he was the Thane of every hold in Skyrim, he even killed Alduin himself. He had enough pull to keep them alive as his personal army, but now that he's dead, they'll lose power quickly. The vampire threat, if there ever was any, is over. I don't think this Arthur likes that."

"But what could he possibly gain by killing you?"

"I can only think of one thing. I'm a threat to him, for some reason."

"That's hard to believe. You're one vampire, he's the leader of an army of vampire hunters."

"Well why don't we ask that idiot at the hall then?" she says, suddenly getting angry.

With resolute steps, she walks back to the hall.

"You. Why does the Dawnguard want to kill me so badly?" she asks, furious.

"I'm afraid I do not know, mistress."

"Why did they take the arcane enchanter?"

"I really don't know." He's getting scared. "All I know is that Arthur is planning something big. When the Last Dragonborn died, he immediately retrieved Auriel's Bow from the caverns beneath the fort. He put on the Dawnguard Royal Armor the Last Dragonborn enchanted himself and then he ordered the attack on Castle Volkihar. No one dared standing up to him, he was second in command when the Dragonborn was still alive."

"Auriel's Bow. What on earth is he gonna do with that? It's only useful against vampires... Where is he now?"

"I don't know. He placed Minarth in command and then disappeared. Said he had something important to do."

"I don't like the sound of this."

"Me neither," I admit. "But what are we supposed to do? If we want to defeat the Dawnguard, we'll need help."

"That won't be easy," Serana says. "We were close during our battle against Harkon, but after that, we slowly grew apart. He was getting older, and was rising quickly in the Dawnguard. Obviously he couldn't be seen with a vampire like that. He had a reputation to maintain."

"But he had other companions."

"Yes. But most of them are now old or even dead, if they aren't part of the Dawnguard that is. Don't forget that the Dawnguard is officially approved by all the jarls and the empire. His friends at the College of Winterhold or the Companions won't simply ignore that."

"Then we'll need someone with less respect for the law. Surely he had some, less respectable friends."

"Yes," Serana says slowly. "I think I know someone. But it's dangerous. Extremely dangerous."

"Who is it?"

"Her name is Babette. She's a vampire."

"That sounds dangerous indeed. But I thought all vampires were slaughtered."

"I doubt they caught this one. She's an assassin, from the Dark Brotherhood."


	4. Chapter 4

"There," the enthralled Dawnguard says, pointing at the map.

"Mor Khazgur?" What the hell is that?

"It's an orc stronghold," he says. "The orcs that lived there are all dead. Some kind of disease I think. The stronghold should be empty now."

"Or held by bandits," dad suggests.

"I can handle bandits," Serana says, confident.

"Mor Khazgur it is then."

"And what do we do with him?" mom asks, nodding towards the thrall.

"Good question," Serana says. "We can't leave him here."

"How about we just take him with us?" dad suggests.

"I'm not taking that bastard with me. Besides, we shouldn't draw too much attention. The smaller our group, the better."

"Just send him to Solitude then. Maybe he can convince the others you are dead."

"And the others died in the fight? I don't know if they'll believe that without a body, but it's worth a shot," Serana says.

"It's settled then."

Still, I'm not sure about all this. I'm in Tamriel for one day and I'm already set on a quest to travel to an orc stronghold and find a vampire-assassin from the Dark Brotherhood who might assist us in fighting a bunch of vampire hunters.

I can tell that dad isn't comfortable either.

"Dawn," he says. "Can we talk? Privately?"

"Uhm. Sure." I knew something was wrong.

I follow him to the right and down a flight of stairs.

There are large wooden caskets in this room, along with heavy tables. In the past, a coffin was standing against the wall, but it's been smashed to pieces.

Another staircase leads further down, probably to the dungeons where they lock up 'feeding thralls'.

"We're not coming with you," dad starts.

"Wait, what?"

"We're not coming with you to Mor Khazgur."

"Where are you going then?" I have my suspicions.

"The College of Winterhold."

"But, the Dawnguard-"

"Is not our problem."

The annoying part is that he is right. There is no reason to get involved into a pointless war we have absolutely no chance of winning.

"Look. I wanna help her."

"You can't win against them."

"I know that. But if Serana remains alone she will die. The least I can do is help her find this 'Babette'. If she still wants to fight a doomed battle after that, it's up to her. I'll join you at the College after we find Babette."

Dad nods. "You know why we are going to the College, don't you?"

"Of course. But I'm getting a feeling the Dawnguard is involved in what we found."

"The missing arcane enchanter."

" _Enchanters_. There were soul gems in Serana's room and a suspicious looking empty spot next to it. I believe I saw marks in the dust. I found something similar at the lab left of the hall. I'm suspecting Winterhold won't have enchanters either. But the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary is a lot harder to breach."

Dad nods once again. "The College is strong, but not almighty. The Dawnguard may have infiltrated. If your suspicion is correct, Skyrim is in great danger. Especially if the Last Dragonborn is dead."

"Which is why we need to stop them. We're the only ones that can."

"Keep Serana save. We might need her later."

I nod.

We return to the great hall.

I explain the situation to Serana. She doesn't seem to mind that it's just the two of us, but I can tell she's very suspicious about all this. Still, this is not our war and she can't make any demands from us.

"I suggest we don't stick around too long," Serana says. "Let's put on some normal clothes and gather whatever supplies we can."

"Where do I find normal clothes in here? Dressing in vampire armor sounds like a terrible idea."

"Follow me," Serana says. She leads me back to the room I talked with dad. But now, she goes a bit further. Instead of walking down to the empty pens, she goes left to a wardrobe. She opens it and takes out a normal light grey tunic and a black pair of pants.

"Try this on."

I accept the clothes and start removing the heavy armor.

It would have come in handy in a fight, but the remaining Dawnguard didn't put up much resistance and dad had already dealt with them. Actually travelling in such armor would be impractical and way too suspicious.

The tunic fits, more or less.

Serana has dressed in a similar fashion: a simple dress in white and brown falling to her knees, fastened with a simple belt and laced up front.

"I feel weird without my hood," she says.

"We're still way too suspicious. Your eyes draw too much attention. And that elven dagger is a bit...too suspicious."

"You're the one to talk. A Dawnguard crossbow and an ancient nord sword. How exactly are you going to explain that? You're just a traveller, who has stolen a sword from the draugr and found a crossbow on a dead Dawnguard?"

"I need some weapon, don't I?"

"Let's try something else. We don't look like normal travellers at all. We'll need a better disguise."

"What else have you got?"

"I think I've got an idea."

She walks back to the hall. Then, she goes to the stairs situated left from the throne.

From there, you can go left to another room, right to the balcony above the throne and straight forward up another flight of stairs. There are stairs leading left forward as well, but a large iron gate blocks them.

"That's the cathedral," Serana says. "We shouldn't go there. Bad memories."

Hm. Most likely Harkon was killed there.

She takes the stairs in front of us and opens a door.

The room we arrive in is kinda creepy.

It has a throne-like chair by the fire along with some regular chairs, but that is about as cozy at it gets.

Left of the door is a giant cage big enough to put a human in. In the other corner was a torture rack with dried up blood beneath it. I say 'was', because now only splinters remain. It's still visible what it once was though.

Serana turns right, to a display case between two wardrobes.

"Here you go," she says, taking out something fuzzy and black.

"Is this a wolf pelt?"

"A werewolf pelt to be precise."

"That doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"Hold on to that thought."

She goes further into the room and up some stairs.

When she returns, she carries a dagger. A weird half curved thing. It's bronze colored with streaks of green, as if it's made of copper or something.

"A dragon priest dagger," Serana explains.

"I thought we were going for less suspicious?"

"Don't fool yourself. We're fighters, so we might as well look like it."

"Mercenaries."

She smiles. "Indeed. Let's find some fancy things. Mercenaries like to show off."

As if showcasing his power, Harkon decorated his room with all kinds of rare items.

"Why didn't the Dawnguard take any of this?" I ask, holding up a bonehawk amulet. Surely this thing is worth a lot.

"Beats me. Maybe they were afraid the items were cursed or something."

"Are they?"

"Maybe."

Let's not go down that route. "But they did take the rare alchemy ingredients and the arcane enchanters?"

"And the Bloodstone Chalices, the Rings of Blood Magic and the Amulets of Night Power. All very powerful artefacts which boost a vampire's powers."

"Makes sense they secured those."

"Indeed. If we hope to stand any chance of winning we'll need those."

It takes me a full minute before I realize the implications of the word 'we'.

I sigh softly. What am I getting myself into?


	5. Chapter 5

"That's Northwatch Keep," Serana says, pointing to the partly ruined fortress. "It's in the hands of the Thalmor. We should tread carefully."

The words have barely left her mouth or I hear horses.

Three elves appear out of nowhere.

The middle one is seated on a white horse and wears long hooded robes. They are black with silver accents. The hood is raised, but white hair spills out from beneath it. On his face is a quite arrogant look.

He's flanked by two elves in light elven armor with glass swords. They are sitting on brown horses.

"Well well," the middle one says, lowering his hood. "What do we have here?"

"Is there a problem?" I ask, trying to sound calm. I can almost feel my heart beating in my chest. I wonder how good the hearing of elves is? Not good enough to hear those things, right?

"Depends. Who are you?"

"Rigor. Just a mercenary. This is my partner, Alia."

The elf studies us for a moment. He looks at the werewolf pelt draped around my shoulders, the steel armor beneath it, the bonehawk amulet dangling on a silver chain and the plain steel sword on my hip.

Then, he shifts his attention to Serana. Because we had to hide her vampire-nature, we decided we would go with an assassin look. A tight black bodysuit with leather bands covers most of her body. Above it, she has a cloak with a hood which is raised to hide her eyes. If you get close enough, you can see the faint orange glow of her eyes, but let's hope no one gets that close. On her hips are two dragon priest daggers. A normal hunting bow and matching quiver is on her back.

"And what brings two mercenaries so far north?"

"Some farmers at Dragon Bridge hired us to take care of some bandits. They fled north until they arrived at the sea. Then they were trapped and we took care of them. Now we're on our way back."

"Well be on your way then. This is Thalmor territory."

The horses wheel around and leave.

I release my breath. "Looks like our disguises work."

"For now," Serana says.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What exactly are you planning to do? You know as well as I do that there is no way to beat the Dawnguard with just the two of us. Even if we gain the support from the Dark Brotherhood somehow."

She sighs. "I know that. As long as I'm...you know, _alive_ , people will hunt me. Vampires derive their strength from their coven. A vampire on its own has little chance of survival."

"So, you're planning on making a new coven then?"

"No. I think the Dawnguard is right, this world would be better of without vampires."

"But you're opposing them."

"There's a difference. The power of vampires is dangerous. It's by definition a cruel thing. Vampires prey upon humans. But that doesn't give anyone the right to start killing all of them. We should judge people of all kinds on their actions, not their potential actions. Besides, I'm a vampire. Whether I want it or not, I'm like this. I have to defend myself, don't I?"

"You know, I heard Falion of Morthal-"

"Is dead. Killed by the Dawnguard over twenty years ago."

"I see."

We continue in silence.

It's almost nightfall when we reach it.

"There it is," Serana says.

My night vision isn't nearly as good as hers, but I can vaguely see some wooden palisade and something that might be a longhouse.

"Can you get in?" I ask.

"It's not as empty as we had hoped."  
"How so?"

"Bandits."

"I thought you could handle bandits."

"Of course I can. But something feels-"

"Wrong?" A voice says.

I look back.

A tall man in leather armor is standing there. Well, to be precise, it's not a man.

It's an orc.

His brutal face is twisted into a grin as he shifts his grip on the orichalcum longsword he's holding.

"I thought the orcs that lived here were wiped out by a disease."

With a grunt, he kicks me. This orc is perfectly healthy, that's for sure.

The snapping sound and excruciating pain leaves little doubt as to what happened: my nose is broken.

My head jerks back and hits the ground. Everything becomes blurry.

" _Dawn_." Serana calls out to me.

"Don't try anything funny, _vampire_. This sword has a fire enchantment. One wrong move and I'll burn you."

Enchantment?

With a supreme effort, I force my body upward. I quickly have to put my hand on the ground to prevent myself from tipping over.

"What are you planning welp? Get down and-"

The rest of his words are drowned in a scream.

On the motion of my hand, his sword was engulfed in flames. In his surprise, he dropped it. When it hit the ground, the flames quenched.

I quickly pick it up and try to stand. That last bit turns out a bit difficult.

The orc launches his fist straight down my gut. I fall down and he falls on top of me. His weight is massive. It's like I'm being crushed by a mountain, that is, if I knew what a mountain looked like.

He quickly grabs my hands and tries to pry the sword from it.

Before he can do this, I hear a gurgling sound and his grip weakens.

His weight is thrown of me.

"Are you okay?" Serana asks. She holds out her free hand. In the other hand is her dagger.

"I'm okay." (Lie). "I just need some healing."

"I'm a vampire," Serana says, supporting me. "Not my speciality."

"Then I need a spellbook to learn healing."

"How about some rest first?"

"That could work too."

Leaning on Serana, I walk. Wait, where are we walking to?

We don't go far though. Soon, Serana enters a cave.

"Welcome," she says. "To Darkfall Cave."

"It is dark in here, that's true. I should cast some light."

"Don't bother," she says. "That won't work in here."

The only source of light are some strange purple plants. They remind me of the Soul Cairn. But I guess I don't have much else to be reminded off.

She guides me a bit further. We go down, past a waterfall and then back up. Then, she takes a bend and we go back down until we reach a collapsed bridge. Only one of the ropes remains. Beneath that is fast flowing water.

"Do you trust me?" Serana asks.

"Completely," I say without hesitation. "What are you-"

She pushed me down.

We plunge into the water. The current immediately drags me through a tunnel. At the end of it, we drop down. For a few seconds I fall, thinking I'm going to die, and then we fall into another pool of water. This one has a current as well, but less strong.

Still, the two of us are dragged towards the edge, down another waterfall. towards the edge.

We fall down a different waterfall and the current doesn't stop there. Immediately, we are dragged towards another waterfall and then another. The last one is a very short one however and the cave broadens. This causes the flow of water to broaden a lot and slow down to a trickle. Two ankle deep rivers flow on through the cave.

We get out of the water. Now I'm drenched as well. Damn, it's cold here.

"Are you insane?" I ask, surprisingly calm.

"Sorry. But we should be safe here. No one knows about this cave, let alone how to get here. That bridge leads to a dead end. To only way to get here is jumping down like we just did."

"Then how do we get out of here?"

"There's a secret passage. I'll show you later. But first I need to show you something else. It's just a bit further. Around the bend."

The water has washed away the half dried blood on my face, but now I'm kinda cold.

"I'll make a fire when we get there," she says, noticing my shivering. "Sorry about all this."

I sigh. What am I doing? I don't owe anything to this world. Let alone to a crazy vampire.

No, I do. This world needs me. If the Dawnguard succeeds, Eternal Night will fall upon the world, just not the Eternal Night Harkon intended. And I - images of the burning sword flash in front of my eyes - am the only one who can stop it.


End file.
